This study aimed to utilize usability engineering methods in order to identify facilitators and barriers to electronic referral system adoption by radiation oncologists at Princess Margaret Cancer Centre, and provide recommendations for electronic referral system design. Analyses included workflow analysis of radiation oncologists reviewing referrals, belief elicitation interviews with radiation oncologists, a heuristic evaluation of an existing electronic referral system interface, and cognitive walkthrough of that interface with radiation oncologists. Based on these findings, the system interface was redesigned using mock-up software to address identified usability issues. The existing and redesigned interfaces were compared using observational usability testing with radiation oncologists. The redesigned system interface yielded reduced task times and enhanced user satisfaction as compared to the existing interface. Thus, user-centred design was useful in determining facilitators and barriers to e-referral adoption.

This study aimed to utilize usability engineering methods in order to identify facilitators and barriers to electronic referral system adoption by radiation oncologists at Princess Margaret Cancer Centre, and provide recommendations for electronic referral system design. Analyses included workflow analysis of radiation oncologists reviewing referrals, belief elicitation interviews with radiation oncologists, a heuristic evaluation of an existing electronic referral system interface, and cognitive walkthrough of that interface with radiation oncologists. Based on these findings, the system interface was redesigned using mock-up software to address identified usability issues. The existing and redesigned interfaces were compared using observational usability testing with radiation oncologists. The redesigned system interface yielded reduced task times and enhanced user satisfaction as compared to the existing interface. Thus, user-centred design was useful in determining facilitators and barriers to e-referral adoption.

Train traffic control is a complex task in a dynamic environment. Different actors have to cooperate to meet strong requirements regarding safety, punctuality, capacity utilization, energy consumption, and more. The GMOC model has been developed and utilized in a number of studies in several different areas. This thesis describes GMOC and uses train traffic control as the application area for evaluating its utility. The GMOC model has its origin in control theory and relates to concepts of dynamic decision making. Human operators in complex, dynamic control environments must have clear goals, reflecting states to reach or to keep a system in. Mental models contain the operator’s knowledge about the task, the process, and the control environment. Systems have to provide observability, means for the operator to observe the system’s states and dynamics, and controllability, allowing the operators to influence the system’s states. GMOC allows us to constructively describe complex environments, focusing on all relevant parts. It can be utilized in user-centred system design to analyse existing systems, and design and evaluate future control systems. Our application of GMOC shows that automation providing clear observability and sufficient controllability is seen as transparent and most helpful. GMOC also helps us to argue for visualization that rather displays the whole complexity of a process than tries to hide it. Our studies in train traffic control show that GMOC is useful to analyse complex work situations. We identified the need to introduce a new control strategy improving the traffic plan by supporting planning ahead. Using GMOC, we designed STEG, an interface implementing this strategy. Improvements that have been done to observability helped the operators to develop more adequate mental models, reducing use of cognitive capacity but increasing precision of the operative traffic plans. In order to improve the traffic controllers’ controllability, one needs to introduce and share a real-time traffic plan, and provide the train drivers with up-to-date information on the surrounding traffic. Our studies indicate that driver advisory systems, including such information, reduce the need for traffic re-planning, improve energy consumption, and increase quality and capacity of train traffic. / KAJT / FTTS

My thesis pursues the development of a tool to empower designers and non-designers to better understand humor’s function in design and to encourage the use of humor as a rhetorical device to undertake social problems. Humor research is a field that is largely based on linguistic studies, but because of its multidisciplinary stretch in the past decade has displayed a broad rhetorical influence; however, it has yet to form a substantial relationship with design. Through a literature review of linguistic, rhetorical, and design theories, I identified a set of heuristics that guide how humor should operate in design. I then tested the effectiveness of the heuristics, and with their final revision, applied them to designing for motivational problems associated with public displays of political mobilization. My user research inferred the creation of a mobile instructional tool that guides the collaborative and/or individual production of political communication artifacts (e.g. rally signs), which use humor to confront socially complex issues. The artifacts’ implicit intent is to motivate political mobilization and to found and/or empower communities. My project focus entails the creation and testing of the tool on the individual level. Whether the artifacts created produce the desired effect regarding mobilization and community strength is unknown; Future work should lend itself to testing humorous design’s effect on political mobilization and ability to empower communities.

The objective of the proposed research is to study the integration of humans and automation for the operation of regenerative life support systems (RLSS). RLSS combine physico-chemical and biological processes with the purpose of increasing the autonomy of space habitats and the life quality of their living organisms by properly reusing byproducts and regenerating consumable resources. However, these processes require energy and time to transform chemical compounds and organic wastes into nutrients, consumables, and edible products. Consequently, the maintenance of RLSS imposes a considerable workload on human operators. In addition, the uncertainties introduced by unintended chemical reactions promoted by material loop closure may create unexpected situations that, if unattended, could translate into performance deterioration, human errors, and failures. The availability of novel chemical and biological sensors together with computational resources enable the development of monitoring and automation systems to alleviate human workload, help avoid human error, and increase the overall reliability of these systems. This research aggregates sensor data and human-expert situation assessments to create a representation of their situation knowledge base (\gloss{skb}). The representation is used in a switched control approach to the automation of RLSS, for decision support, and human-automation coordination. The aggregation method consists of an optimization process based on particle swarms. The purpose of this work is to contribute to the methodological development of situation-oriented and user-centered design approaches to human-automation systems. Experiments and simulations are supported on the process of respiration in an aquatic habitat acting as a RLSS.

Initiativet till projektet togs av tandvårdspersonal på Specialisttandvården i Halmstad då de upplevde problem vid arbete med oral protetik. Problemet, som projektet även bygger på, innebär att komponenter tappas och på grund av gravitationen samt patientens position riskeras att inhaleras eller sväljas. Detta innebär ett stress- och orosmoment, vilket bidrar till en försämrad psykosocial arbetsmiljö för tandvårdspersonalen.   2008 infördes det statliga tandvårdsstödet i Sverige vilket innebär en reducerad kostnad för protetikingrepp som lett till att fler har råd med oral protetik. Därför blir problemet mer och mer utbrett, vilket gjort kravet på en lösning mer eftertraktad.   I projektet har dynamisk produktutveckling tillämpats med stort fokus på involvering av framtida användare. Artikelsökning, observation och enkätundersökning i genomförd produktdefinitionsfas lade grunden till projektet. Olika konceptgenererings- och utvärderingsmetoder tillämpades och födde den slutgiltiga prototypen. Under hela projektets gång har en kontinuerlig dialog och testning hos uppdragsgivarna utförts.   Detta produktutvecklingsprojekt resulterade i ett instrument som underlättar för tandvårdspersonal samt ökar säkerheten för patienten vid oral protetik. Lösningen är en specialutformad pincett som träs på skruvmejseln och fixerar komponenter. / The project was initiated by dental personnel at the Specialist dentistry in Halmstad, Sweden, because they experienced problems when working with oral prosthetics. There is a risk that components are dropped and due to gravity and the patient's position, being inhaled or swallowed. This means stress and concerns, contributing to the deterioration of the psychosocial work environment for dental personnel.   The Swedish dental State support was introduced in 2008, which gives the patient a reduced cost for dental prosthetic procedures. This allows more people to afford oral prosthetics. Therefore, the problem becomes more and more prevalent and the demand for a solution is requiered.    The project has implemented dynamic product development with a major focus on the involvement of future users. The project was based on literature reviews, observation and survey, which was performed in the product definition phase. Different concept generation methods and evaluation methods were applied and resulted in a final prototype. A continuous dialogue and testing with the clients where performed throughout the project.   This product development project resulted in an instrument that facilitates for dental personnel and increase safety for the patient during oral prosthetics. The solution is a specially designed forceps which slips onto the screwdriver and secures components.

ABSTRACT THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN SOCIO ECONOMIC FACTORS AND USE CONTEXT IN PRODUCT USABILITY Karapars, Zeynep M. Sc., Department of Industrial Design Supervisor: Assoc. Prof. Dr. &Ccedil / igdem Erbug April 2004, 184 pages Developments in the usability discipline have lead to new paths in new product development processes. The methods for development of usable products are abundant and the area is crescent for new research. One of the concerns in usability lies in the question of employment of user centered design in the prevailing product development processes. In this study, it is aimed to be clarified that inquiry into the use context should be an initial step in user centered design. However, use context is one of the less explored areas of usability. Detailed examinations of contextual factors may open paths to new methods of integrating usability into products. This study aims to take a step towards the analysis of the impact of socio economic factors on usability of product. A field study is made in order to acquire a deeper understanding. Samples of two different socio-economic groups are defined from the marketing perspective. Contextual factors are specified on the example of washing machines. Comparison of problems between the users from the two socio economic groups shed light on the relationship between socio economic variables and usability problems.

The venerable desktop metaphor is beginning to show signs of strain in supporting modern knowledge work. Traditional desktop systems were not designed to support the sheer number of simultaneous windows, information resources, and collaborative contexts that have become commonplace in contemporary knowledge work. Even though the desktop has been slow to evolve, knowledge workers still consistently manage multiple tasks, collaborate effectively among colleagues or clients, and manipulate information most relevant to their current task by leveraging the spatial organization of their work area. The potential exists for desktop workspaces to better support these knowledge work practices by leveraging the unifying construct of activity. Semantically-meaningful activities, conceptualized as a collection of tools (applications, documents, and other resources) within a social and organizational context, offer an alternative orientation for the desktop experience that more closely corresponds to knowledge workers' objectives and goals. In this research, I unpack some of the foundational assumptions of desktop interface design and propose an activity-centered model for organizing the desktop interface based on empirical observations of real-world knowledge work practice, theoretical understandings of cognition and activity, and my own experiences in developing two prototype systems for extending the desktop to support knowledge work. I formalize this analysis in a series of key challenges for the research and development of activity-based systems. In response to these challenges, I present the design and implementation of a third research prototype, the Giornata system, that emphasizes activity as a primary organizing principle in GUI-based interaction, information organization, and collaboration. I conclude with two evaluations of the system. First, I present findings from a longitudinal deployment of the system among a small group of representative knowledge workers; this deployment constitutes one of the first studies of how activity-based systems are adopted and appropriated in a real-world context. Second, I provide an assessment of the technologies that enable and those that pose barriers to the development of activity-based computing systems.

Thesis (MScEng) Stellenbosch University, 2014 / ENGLISH ABSTRACT: Teleoperation as a field has seen much change since its inception in the early 1940s with Dr. Raymond Goertz producing the first teleoperation system for manipulating radioactive materials. With advances in core and supporting technologies, the systems have grown in complexity and capability, allowing users to perform tasks anywhere in the world irrespective of physical distance. The feasibility of such systems has increased as the drive for use of telepresence robots, exploration robots as in space exploration, search and rescue robots and military systems such as UAVs and UGVs gain popularity. This prompted the development of a proof of concept modular, user centred telerobotic system. The current project is the second iteration in the development process. Teleoperation and more specifically telerobotic systems pose a challenge for many system developers. This may be a result of complexity or the wide assortment of knowledge areas that developers must master in order to deliver the final system. Developers have to balance system usability, user requirements, technical design and performance requirements. Several developmental process models are considered in context of Engineering Management (EM). A larger Systems Engineering developmental process is used, with focus on the primary and supportive EM components. The author used a hybrid developmental model that is user focussed in its approach, the User-Centred Systems Design (UCSD) methodology was adopted as the primary model for application within the two distinct developmental categories. The first category hardware and system integration utilised the UCSD model as is. The second - Software development - relied on the use of agile models, rapid application development (RAD) and extreme programming (XP) were discussed with XP being chosen as it could easily incorporate UCSD principles in its development process. Hardware systems development consisted of mechanical design of end-effectors, configuration management and design, as well as haptic and visual feedback systems design for the overall physical system. Also included is the physical interface design of the input (master) cell. Further software development was broken into, three sections, the first and most important was the graphical user interface, haptic control system with kinematic model and video feedback control. The force following and matching characteristics of the system were tested and were found to show an improvement over the previous implementation. The force magnitude error at steady state was reduced by 10%. While there was a dramatic improvement in system response, the rise time was reduced by a factor 10. The system did however show a decrease in angular accuracy, which was attributed to control system limitations. Further human-factor analysis experiments were conducted to test the system in two typical use-case scenarios. The first was a planar experiment and the second a 3D placement task. The factors of interest identified were field-of-view, feedback vision mode, and input modality. Heuristic performance indicators such as time-to-completion and number of collisions for a given task were measured. System performance was only showed significant improvement when used with haptic control. This shows that the research into haptic control systems will prove to be valuable in producing usable systems. The vision factor analysis failed to yield significant results, although they were useful in the qualitative systems analysis. The feedback from post-experimentation questionnaires showed that users prefer the Point of View as a field of view and 2D viewing over 3D viewing, while the haptic input modality was preferred. The results from the technical verification process can be used in conjunction with insights gained from user preference and human-factor analysis to provide guidance for future telerobotic systems development at Stellenbosch University. / AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Telewerksverigting as ’n gebied het al vele veranderinge ondergaan vandat die eerste stelsels deur Dr. Raymond Goertz geimplementeer was in die vroeë 1940s vir die hantering van radioaktiewe materiale. Met vordering in kern en ondersteunende tegnologieë, het die telewerksverigtingstelsels toegeneem in kompleksiteit asook gevorder in vermoeënsvaardigheid, wat gebruikers in staat stel om take te verrig vanuit enige plek op aarde, ongeag die fisiese afstand wat die gebruiker en die werksarea skei. Die lewensvatbaarheid van hierdie stelsels het ook toegeneem weens die belangstelling in teleteenwoordigheidrobotte, ruimtevaardige-robotte, reddings-robotte en militêre-robotte soos onbemandelug- voertuie (OLV) en onbemande-grond-voertuie(OGV). As gevolg van die belangstelling in telerobotiese stelsels is die ontwikkeling van ’n modulêre, gebruikers-gesentreerde telewerksverigting stelsel onderneem. Die huidige projek is ’n tweede iterasie hiervan. Telewerksverigting, en meer spesifiek, telerobotika stelsels ontwikelling, vereis dat stelselontwikkelaars ’n verskeidenheid kennisareas bemeester. Die ontwikkelaar moet ’n belans vind tussen gebruiker vereistes, bruikbaarheid asook tegniese ontwerp en prestasie vereistes. Menigde ontwikkelingsproses modelle is oorweeg en behandel in die konteks van Ingenieursbestuur (IB). ’n Stelselsontwikkeling proses is gevolg met ’n fokus op primêre en ondersteunende IB komponente. ’n Gemengde ontwikkeling is toegepass tot die projek wat die gebruiker as ’n hoof komponent van die stelsel in ag neem. Die oorhoofse ontwikkelingsmodel is die User-centred Systems Design (UCSD) proses, wat vir beide hardeware en sagteware ontwikkeling gebruik is. Vir die hardeware ontwikkeling is die UCSD toegepas soos dit uiteengesit is in die literatuur. Die sagteware ontwikkeling is voltooi met behulp van ratse metodes, “Rapid Application Development” RAD en “Extreme Programming” (XP) was oorweeg en XP was gekies as ontwikkelingsmodel. XP was die natuurlike keuse weens die gemak waarmee UCSD metodes en prinsiepe kon geinkorporeer word in die ontwikkelings proses. Hardeware onwikkeling het bestaan uit meganiese ontwerp, manipulasiegereedskap ontwerp, konfigurasie bestuur en ontwikkeling asook haptiese en visueleterugvoer stelselsontwerp van die fisiese stelsel insluitend die fisiese koppelvlakontwerp van die meester sel. Verder is sagtewareontwerp opgedeel in ’n haptiesebeheerstel met ’n kinematiese model ontwikkeling, videoterugvoerbeheer en gebruikersintervlak ontwerp. Die vermoëe van die stelsel om krag insette na te boots was verbeter met ’n gestadigde verbetering van 10%. Die reaksietyd van die stelsel is verbeter met ’n faktor van 10. Die stelsel het ’n verswakking getoon in die algehele hoekakkuraatheid, die oorsprong van die verswakking kan aan die beheerstelsel teogeken word. Verdere menslikefaktoranalise eksperimente is voltooi om die stelsel in twee tipiese gebruikgeval scenario’s te toets. Die eerste, ’n platvlak-eksperiment en die tweede ’n 3D plasingingstaak eksperiment. Die faktore van belang is ïdentifiseer as, visie-veld, terugvoervisie modus en insette modaliteit. Heuristiese prestasie-aanwysers soos tyd-tot-voltooiing en die aantal botsings vir ’n gegewe taak is gemeet. Stelselprestasie het slegs aansienlike verbetering getoon wanneer die stelsel met die haptiesebeheer modus bedryf word. Die visiefaktor ontleding het geen noemenswaardige resultate opgelewer nie. Terugvoervorms was na elke eksperiment voltooi. Vraelyste het getoon dat gebruikers die oogpunt van ’n lae hoek en 2D video oor 3D video verkies, terwyl die haptic beheer modaliteit verkies word.

Design probes are a User-centered Design method with focus on close involvement of users in design. This is done by creating a package of artefacts that participants can complete wherever and whenever the individual sees fit. Further, children are a user group that differentiate from other user groups having other needs and attributes within design. This study investigated how design probes motivate children in the design process. A focus of the study is also to compare the applicability of thematic and non-thematic design probes with children.  The study was conducted with a qualitative approach where the empirical data was in the shape of four different design probes that were created and tested by students from Linköping University from the program of Design and Product Development. The tests they carried out were performed on children at the age of 10 to 13. Data analysis were made through coding and thematic analysis.  The study concludes that design probes is an adequate method for designing with children. Although, there are additional challenges in terms of playfulness, motivation, language, rewards, time-sense, creativity, influences and reflection. If design probes with children are managed correctly, they will yield results of great value to design. Also, having a theme in the design probe might help to motivate children. Although, themes are no guarantee for success since it will not solve challenges that are independent of themes. Keywords: Design probe, children, designing with children, User-centered Design, motivation